Natural Resource Summer Internships
Park Employee Dan Gifford and Intern Melanie Albert
Hi! Our names are Melanie Albert and Cindy Matuch! We are Crystal Cove Conservancy’s Natural Resource Summer Interns and we are working under the guidance of California State Parks and Crystal Cove Conservancy to develop and implement a wildlife monitoring protocol for Crystal Cove State Park. So far, we have collected photos of different species in the park, some of the most exciting being bobcats, mule deer, coyote, raccoons, and a California grey fox (see the gallery below)!
Biodiversity is crucial to a healthy ecosystem, a key measurement of the ecological health in an environment. California State Park land managers lack a basic understanding of Crystal Cove’s native wildlife populations, as no such wildlife monitoring program exists, until now!
As Natural Resource Summer Interns, we aim to create a foundation for the wildlife monitoring program here at Crystal Cove State Park. We currently have twelve trap cameras set up within park boundaries and hope to obtain data regarding the general wildlife biodiversity. In addition, it is our job to develop a set of standardized and replicable methods of wildlife monitoring in order to better understand and manage the local wildlife ecology accordingly. This written protocol which implements trap cameras at Crystal Cove State Park will be used in following years to aid in park management and conservation efforts.
[ed: Thank you Parks California for your grant supporting this internship opportunity!)
